


Kirby Memorial High School

by phoenix_173



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Gen, army brat Darcy Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-07 23:30:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13445715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenix_173/pseuds/phoenix_173
Summary: Darcy is not looking forward to another new school. She just hopes her dad doesn't get transferred again before she graduates.





	Kirby Memorial High School

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to [CatrinaSL](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinaSL) for her most excellent beta work. She helped me whip this into something to post, rather than it languishing on my hard drive.
> 
> This is sorta/kinda for [emma98](http://archiveofourown.org/users/emma98) because we started talking about this _ages_ ago. It's finally postable!

* * *

* * *

Darcy shifted from foot to foot as she stood in front of Mr. Coulson’s AP Government class. She hated moving to a new school. Every time it was the same thing. Being stared at like she was some kind of exotic animal at the zoo.

 

She tuned back in as Mr. Coulson asked her to tell the class a little bit about herself.

 

“Uh, hi. This is my fifth school in 2 years. My d-dad — he’s military, so we move a lot. I like to read and I do some martial arts, and no, I won’t show you my moves.” She glared at the goofy looking blond kid in the second row. He had a bandage across his nose and what looked like the remnants of a shiner. He slowly brought his waving hand back down to his desk with an unrepentant grin. “My mom’s a travel writer for _Explore_ magazine, so she’s not around a lot, but I’ve been to some really cool places on vacation. And if you come up to me and I seem like I’m ignoring you, I’m probably just listening to my iPod. My dad says he’s gonna have to have my earbuds surgically removed from my head someday.”

 

The class chuckled at that and she looked over at her new teacher, hoping she’d fulfilled his requirements for being socially awkward.

 

Mr. Coulson smiled at her, “Thank you, Darcy. I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful addition to our class. Why don’t you take one of the empty seats and we’ll get started with today’s class.” She nodded at him and made her way down the aisle to an empty desk next to a slender girl with light brown hair. She was scribbling madly in a notebook, but looked up when Darcy sat down.

 

“Hi,” she whispered, thrusting her non-writing hand out, “I’m Jane. Don’t worry about Clint, he’s an idiot, but he means well.”  Jane grinned at her and the way it lit up her face made it impossible for Darcy not to smile back. Things were already looking better than her last school.

* * *

 Mr. Coulson opened up the class for discussion, and after about twenty minutes of getting a feel for her classmates, Darcy felt free to put in her two cents. She gave an impassioned speech on how racism is still rampant across the country and how the effects of it impact each and every one of them.

 

“None of that has any impact on us,” a large jock named Brock said smugly. “We’re just high school kids. I know _I’ve_ never had any problems.” He smirked as he leaned back in his chairs, sharing what he surely thought was a superior look with his cronies.

 

Darcy snorted and shook her head. She couldn’t believe this neanderthal. _No, wait, that’s insulting to neanderthals._

 

“You got something to say, princess?”

 

“Yeah. I do. If you really think the rampant racisms, anti semitism, misogyny and sexism doesn’t affect you in some way, your jockstrap might be cutting of the circulation to the only brain you seem to use. When anybody with brown skin has to worry when they see anyone in uniform; when wearing a headscarf can leave you vulnerable to slurs and physical abuse; when women are habitually not taken seriously when reporting sex crimes. This impacts _everybody_. Young, old, black, white, green, men, women and anything in between. When I can walk down the street everyday without getting catcalled, then you can tell me this country doesn’t have problems.”

 

Mr. Coulson rang a bell that sounded eerily like it belonged in a boxing match, and Darcy started, convinced she was two seconds from getting detention for nearly punching the jerkwad. But instead of handing out punishments, Mr. Coulson just smiled at her. She sat down in her seat, grateful to have avoided getting reprimanded.

 

Several of her classmates looked at her wide eyed, before Jane started a slow-clap that made her want to melt into her seat as nearly the entire class broke out into applause. She noticed that Brock and his little corner of friends seemed to be the only ones not showing their appreciation for her oration skills.

 

Mr. Coulson brought the class to order and finished up the day by handing out their homework assignments and reading for the week. She quickly escaped the room when the bell rang and headed straight to her locker to exchange her books. She had just grabbed her biology text and shoved it into her messenger bag and slammed her locker shut when she noticed someone standing behind her. She whipped around, fully prepared for it to be Brock or one of his douche-bros. What she saw surprised her: a tall, slender strawberry blonde with an outfit to die for, standing there waiting for her attention.

 

“Can I help you with something?” Darcy asked, doing her best to keep her voice level.

 

“I just wanted to tell you how impressed I was with your debate in there. Nobody really likes Rumlow, but his uncle is on the school board and gets him out of any trouble he gets into. I’m Pepper, by the way. Any chance you’d be interested in joining the debate team? We could really use someone with your talent.”

 

Darcy just stared at the other girl, somewhat dumbstruck. Her mouth usually got her into trouble, or at least ostracized from her classmates. But here, they seemed to appreciate it.

 

“It wasn’t any big deal. I just don’t like bullies. Whether it’s physical, verbal or emotional. And the way that asshat was talking, I just couldn’t let it stand.” She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders and ducked her head to hide behind the wall her hair made in front of her face.

 

Pepper chuckled before linking their arms together and tugging Darcy down the hall. “You sound just like one of my friends. I’ll introduce you at lunch. C’mon, I saw you grab your biology book, we have Dr. Ross together.”

 

Darcy let herself be led down the hall in disbelief. It seemed she already had two friends at her new school. This was definitely a change for the better. 

* * *

Lunch couldn’t come fast enough. After an unremarkable Biology class with Pepper, she had pre-Calculus with Ms. Parker. They were working on a section that she’d already learned at her old school, so Ms. Parker let her have the homework assignments for the next week and work through them until class was over.

 

The bell rang and the class quickly dispersed. Darcy headed back towards her locker only to be surprised by the small group of people waiting at it. Pepper and Jane were both there, as well as a skinny blond boy with thick framed glasses, a tall dark skinned boy with an absolutely infectious smile and a short Asian girl clutching a laptop to her chest.

 

Darcy shook off her surprise and walked up to the group. “What’s up, Buttercup?” she asked with a smile.

 

Pepper turned from the group with a grin. She reached out and snagged Darcy’s hand, pulling her the rest of the way to her locker. Darcy went, unresisting, dropping her bag at her feet and turning to the gathering.

 

“Darcy, this is Daisy,” she gestured with a hand to the Asian girl, “Steve,” the blond boy, “and Sam. Guys, this is Darcy.”

 

Darcy acknowledged them all with a wave and a smile. “Let me just drop off some stuff in my locker, then we can head to lunch?” She definitely didn’t want to be lugging her Biology and Math books around with her if she didn’t have to.

 

It seemed she wasn’t doomed to merely survive this school year. Hopefully her dad wouldn’t get a new posting before she graduated. It’d be nice to actually make friends, and keep them. Maybe being the new kid wouldn’t be the nightmare it usually was. Kirby Memorial wasn’t so bad.

* * *

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! It's entirely possible that this will become a series. I have ideas for characters and interactions, but I wanted to get this out there. Here are a few tidbits about characters that didn't make it into this story to tide you over:
> 
>  
> 
> Bucky and Sam are sportsball rivals. One plays basketball, one plays football. They both play baseball. And they don't want anyone to know just how good of friends they are.
> 
> Daisy is the DJ for the KMHS radio station. She DJs all of Tony's parties. Radio name: Skye. Class Hacker. White hat
> 
> Carol and Rhodey are in junior ROTC.
> 
> Peggy is an exchange student living with her Aunt, uncle and cousin. She's dating Angie, the drama kid.
> 
> Angie: the drama kid
> 
> Natasha lives with her Uncle Dum Dum, who adopted her during his last tour.


End file.
